


terms and human conditions

by MiniNephthys



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, is it a pwp if the focus is more on Feelings, part 1 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 19:24:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20856992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: Ritsuka summons Solomon.





	terms and human conditions

Maybe it was a miracle. Maybe God decided that His wisest king had given up enough, and bestowed His favor. Maybe this really was the best of all possible worlds.

The summon ticket is pure white. Ritsuka doesn’t think about it, throws the ticket in just like he would any other, readies the next one for when that inevitably brings back a Craft Essence he already has.

The sparks are blinding, and Ritsuka has to cover his eyes.

“Servant Caster, here to answer your summons… is what I would normally say, but.” Solomon’s voice is soft. “In this case, maybe I should say ‘I’m home’ instead.”

The other summon ticket falls to the floor as Ritsuka tries to remember how to breathe. He wants to rush to Solomon, to embrace him, but if he takes even a step his legs will give out entirely.

“…Dr. Roman?” His voice is no more than a whisper. “Is that - you can’t-”

Solomon crosses the space between them instead, holds him. Like always, supporting him whenever Ritsuka can’t stand on his own-

Ritsuka cries into Solomon’s chest, and Solomon strokes his hair and promises over and over again that he’s really here.

* * *

Someone will have to get Dr. Roman up to speed on what’s happened in the years since Goetia’s defeat. If that someone is Ritsuka, it’s accidental. A byproduct of trying to tell Solomon everything he’s ever wanted to say to him, all at the same time. Every event he wished Roman could have seen, every battle he wanted Roman to praise him for winning, every feeling he didn’t express until it was too late.

He’s almost entirely incoherent, and he knows it, but Solomon just smiles and lets him keep babbling. After the fourth whimpered, “Don’t go,” and Solomon’s patient, “I won’t,” Ritsuka kisses him.

(Once before. When nightmares of failing, of seeing his friends die in front of him and the hope of humanity disappear because he wasn’t good enough, became so gruesome that Roman had to wake him to stop his screaming - once before, he had begged Roman not to go, and Roman had promised to stay, and Ritsuka had kissed him.

Roman had gently pushed him away. That was the first time, and Ritsuka had thought it would be the only.)

Solomon kisses back. He tastes the way angels sound. He tastes like Heaven was summoned with him, but only on his lips. Ritsuka is crying again. So is Solomon. They both taste like nothing but salt water.

“I didn’t want to go,” Solomon murmurs against Ritsuka’s neck. “I wanted to stay here with you, and binge watch anime with you again, and learn how to bake, and-”

Ritsuka kisses him until he stops trying to speak. He knows already. They both know.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Ritsuka says only after his shirt is already off, lest admitting it take away his nerve.

Solomon hides his fidgeting with the ties in his robes. “This is a bit new to me, as well.”

Ritsuka’s eyebrows shoot up, and he lets out the first laugh of the day. “Three hundred concubines?”

“That’s greatly exaggerated!” He blushes, still easily visible on tanned skin. “And I didn’t mean the mechanics of it were new, I meant - you know. Wanting someone.”

Wanting and being wanted. Letting yourself want, and letting someone want you in return.

Ritsuka holds him close. His hands move artlessly, running only on instinct and the way Solomon sighs his name. He doesn’t know whether to gasp “Roman” or “Solomon”, and they both sound in equal measure.

Solomon holds them both until Ritsuka’s voice breaks, until his own body trembles and his toes curl. Even after, he holds Ritsuka close to him, murmuring sweet words in a language Ritsuka doesn’t know.

Warmth and exhaustion have Ritsuka curling up beside Solomon, already half-asleep. There will be time later for talk of how and why and what now. But now, at last, they have that time.


End file.
